Live in Worship
Hey All,
First off, I just want to "warn" you guys, that I probably won't be blogging much after the next couple weeks, because my summer is about to start getting crazy! Plus, I like to avoid, "screens," and spend as much time outside as possible once the weather is nice and there are tons of people here! :) I will probably post a few times over the course of the summer, but my guess, is that it won't be regularly, again, until September.
Anyways...when you hear the word, "worship," I bet you think of hymns or modern praise songs that we sing in church, correct? Well I'd like you to take a minute and try and see it in a different light too. Worship is a lifestyle. I've thought this way for awhile now, and my pastor recently touched on this subject, in one of his sermons, as well, so I figured I can't be wrong, right?
In a recent post, I mentioned that I have a been a Christian since I was 4 years old and that I have a very personal relationship with Him. Prayer is like breathing to me, and as I've said before, I'm often brought to tears because of His goodness. My desire is to have others see Him in me, more often than not, and I want my life to be a testament of His story! I want my legacy to be His love, and I want my words and actions to be a witness to the Truth.
The way we live is proof of what is in our hearts and if we have Jesus, we are supposed to shine Him to the world! As I've said, MANY times, I am NOT perfect and the fact that I desire Jesus is the Holy Spirit in me, not because I'm better than anyone else. One of my biggest role models, is Lecrae, and I've watched several of his messages over the last few days, and it's been a great encouragement to me, seeing as I agree with pretty much everything he says! It's so refreshing to have other Christians who are as sick of "religion," as I am. I posted about this topic, last year, but due to recent conversations I've had with people, and where I'm at in life, right now, I figured I'd share a little bit more.
Too many Christians are so focused on rules and avoiding things that are "evil," that they loose sight of what we are here for in the first place! It's maddening to me and quite sad, because how can we reach the lost if we choose to be soooo different that there is no way they'd want to be like us?!?! I'm not saying that everything can be redeemed for Christ and that we can turn everything into something good, but if we don't at least meet "the world," half way, what good are we? If we take what, is being used mostly for evil, and turn it into something that glorifies Jesus, then non-believers will see this, and want to know more about what makes us different.
We are called to be in the world, but not of it and I know many Christians who take this to mean that they need to be completely separate in order to avoid temptation, when that is totally screwed up and wrong! If we are not informed about the world then how can we reach out to people, if we don't understand their culture?! Christians have too often become known as close minded, hypocrites and I try my best to be the complete opposite of that! I want to live out what I "preach," and to be as open minded as I can be, with still maintaining a Biblical perspective. There are many, many things I have no desire to do because God lives within me, and I want to live my life to please Him. However, at the same time, I have the free will to do whatever I want to, if I so chose. Jesus is not forcing me to follow Him, or to live differently, but because of the Holy Spirit, and because I read the Bible and pray often, I have a different set of priorities than those without Christ.
A good friend of mine and I have had some of the best dicussions I've ever had about my faith and "relegion," and she's not even a Christian. Not to say, that I'm not, incredibly, grateful that we have had those converstions, but at the same time, I wish that it was more common to have such open minded discussions with fellow believers, as well. Don't get me wrong, I am not saying that all the Christians I know are close minded and judegmental, because that is far from the truth! I recongize that we all have faults, but I just wish, sometimes, that a lot of the believers I know could get a reboot and change their views, because I know how freeing it is!
I challenge you all to take a good look at how you choose to live out your worship for Christ and that you are honest with yourself! We, as a body, need to be living out our worship in a way that those who aren't saved want to know more and not shy away because of how we represent! I get we will all have moments where we don't display God in a positive light and that we will all have our days where we miss oppurtunities to demostrate Christ's love, but we all need to try and keep this mindset close to the forefront of our minds! If you are open hearted as well as open minded, you'll be surprised at all the times that you'll be able to share what you believe, and how willing people are to listen and understand! Again, I'm NOT perfect, and I know this, without a doubt, but in the last 6 months, I've really come to embrace this mindset and have been truly blessed by it!
In learning to love myself, I have realized more and more, that if I put myself "first" sometimes, it allows me to more often than not, be able to put others "first," without any resentment or comprimising myself. Obviously, God comes first, and foremost, but when we let ourselves see who we are to Christ, embrace our faults, as well as strengths, we will be much better for it! It can be so HARD, sometimes, but if you work at it, it'll, soon, become a habit that will be hard to break!
This post is a bit all over the place and I had a lot more I was going to say, but I think I'll close this now....I feel like I end too many posts like this, my apologizes!! haha!
I hope you all have an awesome rest of your Sunday!
Until Next Time!
<3Abi
First off, I just want to "warn" you guys, that I probably won't be blogging much after the next couple weeks, because my summer is about to start getting crazy! Plus, I like to avoid, "screens," and spend as much time outside as possible once the weather is nice and there are tons of people here! :) I will probably post a few times over the course of the summer, but my guess, is that it won't be regularly, again, until September.
Anyways...when you hear the word, "worship," I bet you think of hymns or modern praise songs that we sing in church, correct? Well I'd like you to take a minute and try and see it in a different light too. Worship is a lifestyle. I've thought this way for awhile now, and my pastor recently touched on this subject, in one of his sermons, as well, so I figured I can't be wrong, right?
In a recent post, I mentioned that I have a been a Christian since I was 4 years old and that I have a very personal relationship with Him. Prayer is like breathing to me, and as I've said before, I'm often brought to tears because of His goodness. My desire is to have others see Him in me, more often than not, and I want my life to be a testament of His story! I want my legacy to be His love, and I want my words and actions to be a witness to the Truth.
The way we live is proof of what is in our hearts and if we have Jesus, we are supposed to shine Him to the world! As I've said, MANY times, I am NOT perfect and the fact that I desire Jesus is the Holy Spirit in me, not because I'm better than anyone else. One of my biggest role models, is Lecrae, and I've watched several of his messages over the last few days, and it's been a great encouragement to me, seeing as I agree with pretty much everything he says! It's so refreshing to have other Christians who are as sick of "religion," as I am. I posted about this topic, last year, but due to recent conversations I've had with people, and where I'm at in life, right now, I figured I'd share a little bit more.
Too many Christians are so focused on rules and avoiding things that are "evil," that they loose sight of what we are here for in the first place! It's maddening to me and quite sad, because how can we reach the lost if we choose to be soooo different that there is no way they'd want to be like us?!?! I'm not saying that everything can be redeemed for Christ and that we can turn everything into something good, but if we don't at least meet "the world," half way, what good are we? If we take what, is being used mostly for evil, and turn it into something that glorifies Jesus, then non-believers will see this, and want to know more about what makes us different.
We are called to be in the world, but not of it and I know many Christians who take this to mean that they need to be completely separate in order to avoid temptation, when that is totally screwed up and wrong! If we are not informed about the world then how can we reach out to people, if we don't understand their culture?! Christians have too often become known as close minded, hypocrites and I try my best to be the complete opposite of that! I want to live out what I "preach," and to be as open minded as I can be, with still maintaining a Biblical perspective. There are many, many things I have no desire to do because God lives within me, and I want to live my life to please Him. However, at the same time, I have the free will to do whatever I want to, if I so chose. Jesus is not forcing me to follow Him, or to live differently, but because of the Holy Spirit, and because I read the Bible and pray often, I have a different set of priorities than those without Christ.
A good friend of mine and I have had some of the best dicussions I've ever had about my faith and "relegion," and she's not even a Christian. Not to say, that I'm not, incredibly, grateful that we have had those converstions, but at the same time, I wish that it was more common to have such open minded discussions with fellow believers, as well. Don't get me wrong, I am not saying that all the Christians I know are close minded and judegmental, because that is far from the truth! I recongize that we all have faults, but I just wish, sometimes, that a lot of the believers I know could get a reboot and change their views, because I know how freeing it is!
I challenge you all to take a good look at how you choose to live out your worship for Christ and that you are honest with yourself! We, as a body, need to be living out our worship in a way that those who aren't saved want to know more and not shy away because of how we represent! I get we will all have moments where we don't display God in a positive light and that we will all have our days where we miss oppurtunities to demostrate Christ's love, but we all need to try and keep this mindset close to the forefront of our minds! If you are open hearted as well as open minded, you'll be surprised at all the times that you'll be able to share what you believe, and how willing people are to listen and understand! Again, I'm NOT perfect, and I know this, without a doubt, but in the last 6 months, I've really come to embrace this mindset and have been truly blessed by it!
In learning to love myself, I have realized more and more, that if I put myself "first" sometimes, it allows me to more often than not, be able to put others "first," without any resentment or comprimising myself. Obviously, God comes first, and foremost, but when we let ourselves see who we are to Christ, embrace our faults, as well as strengths, we will be much better for it! It can be so HARD, sometimes, but if you work at it, it'll, soon, become a habit that will be hard to break!
This post is a bit all over the place and I had a lot more I was going to say, but I think I'll close this now....I feel like I end too many posts like this, my apologizes!! haha!
I hope you all have an awesome rest of your Sunday!
Until Next Time!
<3Abi
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